Trajanov: War crimes do not expire, Constitutional Court still without an answer on the Hague files

Pavle Trajanov, chairman of the Democratic League, has brought back to attention the initiative he submitted to the Constitutional Court two years ago, seeking the annulment of the 2011 authentic interpretation. According to him, this interpretation aimed to expand an article of the Law on Amnesty so that it would also apply to the four remaining Hague cases.

Trajanov described the issue as difficult to handle, while emphasizing that developments in Macedonia constitute a precedent. He argued that the Law on Amnesty clearly defines the categories of people who benefit from it and that war crimes committed against the people and the civilian population were not included in this law.

Although two years have passed since the request was filed, Trajanov said that he still has not received a response from the Constitutional Court.

“Such crimes do not expire and the scope of the Law on Amnesty cannot be expanded to include the four Hague cases. This was a political agreement between the parties that were in power at that time, VMRO-DPMNE and BDI. Macedonia had requested the return of these cases, so that our courts could decide on them,” Trajanov declared on the show “Argument Plus.”

He insisted that war crimes, for which there is no statute of limitations, cannot be blocked through a Law on Amnesty or through an authentic interpretation.

“Macedonia lacked the institutional capacity to handle these cases, because there was a political agreement. The paramilitary formation turned into BDI and this party remained part of the government for more than 20 years. In Kosovo, if we make a comparison, the main leaders of the KLA, in cooperation with NATO and the USA, created an independent state and managed to send their leaders to trial for crimes. Whereas we have not been able to deal with these four cases,” Trajanov added.